– Speyside announced a final close of its fund named Speyside Equity Fund II (“Fund II”) at US $300 million in capital commitments, having hit its hard cap.
– The fundraise was significantly oversubscribed, with requests exceeding the hard cap.
– Fund II represents Speyside’s third investment vehicle (after Fund I and the Speyside Equity Opportunity Fund).
– The fund is supported by existing limited partners and a global group of new investors.
– Fund II’s deployment strategy: the firm acquires underperforming manufacturing businesses in the lower‑middle market, improves them operationally (via its proprietary system) and then grows them (organic & acquisitive growth).
– The firm’s operational value‑creation system is called the “Proprietary PortCo Value Creation System (PVCS)”.
– While the firm will look for bolt‑on acquisitions globally, Fund II focuses on platform investments in North America, using structural/transformational control and typically low leverage to improve risk‑adjusted returns.
– Eric Wiklendt, Managing Director: “We really learned a lot from Speyside Equity Fund I and Speyside Equity Opportunity Fund, and we are putting those learnings into action in Fund II. Implementing those changes are like getting rid of a stone around our ankle while trying to swim. Ultimately, we are seeing the benefits of addition by subtraction. Taking a process driven approach allows us to generate scalable, repeatable value creation.”
– Nicholas Lardo, Managing Director: “We are excited about the portfolio of investors we have assembled. Given the headwinds in the fundraising market, the quality of our LP portfolio speaks very positively about the industry’s assessment of our strategy.”
